Raster to Vector? what can SU do?

JuanV.Soler

Howard leslie

Kristoff,
Try using Scan 2 Cad. (Standalone program)
http://www.softcover.com/
I've used this program in the past.
Vector conversion is good.
Warping of images could be improved but this may not be important to you.
Recommended.
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Trial version available.
Website also has links to some good Tutorials and Top Tips.
Very good support from the Company also.
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Rolls Royce solution for Raster to Vector conversion is probably using GTX - an add on for Autocad - but £££ ($$$).
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Autocad also have an add-on - Autocad Raster Design.
(again £££).
Good for warping images but Raster to Vector is manually driven (semi-automatic). This has pluses and minuses.
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Hope this helps
Howard L'

Krisidious

I'm trying to convert 2D house plans, working drawings... into dwg or skp format...

warping would be a very bad thing

I'll try some of these...

Howard leslie

Kristoff,
All hardcopy paper drawings are distorted to some degree.
This is due to paper shrinkage / folding / method of storage / age of drawing etc etc.
Scanned images can also be distorted.
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Warping (Rubbersheeting) is a technique that can be used to help take out this distortion although it isn't always required as distortions in the hardcopy / scans may be minimal.
If scans / hardcopies are good, you won't need to do this.

It can though, be extremely useful (especially with old drawings) eg when walls or other detail known to be straight have a bend on them.

Rubbersheeting usually involves picking pairs of points.

Typically an image source point eg Building Corner or Grid Line for example is matched to the corresponding Building Corner or Grid Line in the Vector (CAD) data. Several points are selected.

You need to have some detail in your CAD file eg drawn from Dimensions shown on the source material (hardcopy drawings) for this eg Add a few Building Corners / Grid Lines etc
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Regards
Howard L'

Krisidious

here's what I'm working on

http://www.aboveallhouseplans.com/Main_Level_Working_Drawing_II.zip

as you can see I get the same results evertime rally... I can I change the ortho on it to only make lines 90, 180, 270, 0, 45, 235, and so on only perpendicular and 45 degree angle lines?

here is a list of raster to vector converters

http://www.aboveallhouseplans.com/Raster_to_vector.htm

tiff being converted
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/sas/Ruby/FILE0013.tif

Howard leslie

Kristoff,
I can't seem to make the link to your dxf file work.
Can u attach the file instead ???
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If you are using Scan 2 Cad:
Go to Help Menu - Select Real World Guide and Hints and Tips
2 VERY useful PDF files
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See scanning tips 200 - 240 dpi sometimes good.
Make lines thicker (tool for this)
Remove holes / speckles (tool for this)
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You can force conversion to any angle eg 45 / 90 / 180 etc
Go to:
Type - Settings - Angle Optimisation
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Hope this helps
Howard L'

Krisidious

http://www.aboveallhouseplans.com/Main_Level_Working_Drawing_II.zip

ok here it is in zip format

Krisidious

ahhh there is... why could I not find that... thanks Howard, I'll try that...

Howard leslie

Kristoff,
Check out the pdf files from the Scan 2 Cad Help menu
(as mentioned previously).
Go to Help Menu - Select Real World Guide and Hints and Tips
2 VERY useful PDF files.

You'll have to play around with the settings in the vectorizing program.
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Alternatively,
Scale scan up in CAD program (eg Autocad)
Draw over the top of the scan manually.
Use Dimensions you have where possible.

This may be quicker if you're having problems with the vectorizing program.
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Vectorizing can be like OCR software - sometimes it's just quicker to redo it from scratch if original is no good - or play around with the settings (if you have time).
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PS
If it's any consolation I'm doing a very similar task at the moment of an industrial building.
I'm using dimensions and drawing over the scan (by hand).
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Good Luck
Regards

Howard L'

dtrarch

Kris

There is an open source that will create PDF'and also DXF from same.FREE
A combo of Ghostscript and Ghostview plus
a plug in for the DXF extraction.(German source)
I have not messed with this for a while, but
while the interface is a little klugy it does work.
(note that one must add the extension to the [save as] option. This is not automatic.

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
http://www.ghostscript.com/

You will have to dig out the DXF but a simple search should get it.

Dave

Krisidious

nice thanks Dave...

JohnsonChance

Try this one: http://www.autodwg.com/vectorNow.htm
If you have raster PDF, try this: http://www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/

thomthom

Adobe Illustrator have raster to vector functions. But I'm not sure how good it is for CAD drawings...